Look Closely Or You Just Might Miss The Invisible House in Joshua Tree

Located 10 minutes away from downtown Joshua Tree (and two hours southeast of Los Angeles), the aptly named Invisible House blends in seamlessly with its surroundings. The 5,500-square-foot building is like a New York City skyscraper turned on its side. Mirrored, tempered glass lines the exterior of the steel frame house which reflects the surrounding desert scenery.

The Invisible House, completed in 2019, was a collaboration between Tomas Osinski, an architect, and Chris Hanley, a film producer behind “American Psycho,”“The Virgin Suicides,” and more. It’s situated on a 90-acre plot of land, allowing uninterrupted, expansive views of the remote desert site.

Dezeen noted that the dwelling is designed as one long, continuous entertaining space with a 100-foot-long indoor swimming pool as its focal point. At one end of the pool, there’s a white wall for projecting movies and other media, and at the other is a small catering kitchen equipped with two ovens, a heating drawer, a refrigerator, and freezer.

A minimalist aesthetic is apparent throughout the home, with smooth concrete floors, shiny white surfaces and contemporary furnishings allowing the stunning scenery to take center stage no matter where you are.

White partitions separate the four bedrooms and bathrooms from the main living space—an intentional decision to maximize desert views. Each bedroom has a full bathroom, with a free-standing tub in the master suite, and an all-glass shower in the center of another bathroom. Glass bed frames mirror the aesthetic of the rest of the house.

From an environmental standpoint, the walls of the home are made with low-emissivity glass, and there’s a thermal water heating system on the roof. As for birds, Hanley told Dezeen that they are not harmed by the glass cladding and thrive on insects they find around the property. The home’s designers took a biological survey of the local flora and fauna even before construction began, and they made sure to adhere to all federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations.

The Invisible House is available for private events, filming, and photography. For more information, visit their website.